Keywords: Colonial government
Item 22542
Pepperrell appointment to colonial Council, 1727
Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1726-06-01 Location: Boston; Kittery Media: Ink on paper
Item 100325
Act of Parliament, Portland, 1711
Contributed by: Tate House Museum Date: 1711 Location: Portland Media: Ink on paper
Exhibit
Colonial Cartography: The Plymouth Company Maps
The Plymouth Company (1749-1816) managed one of the very early land grants in Maine along the Kennebec River. The maps from the Plymouth Company's collection of records constitute some of the earliest cartographic works of colonial America.
Exhibit
Port of Portland's Custom House and Collectors of Customs
The collector of Portland was the key to federal patronage in Maine, though other ports and towns had collectors. Through the 19th century, the revenue was the major source of Federal Government income. As in Colonial times, the person appointed to head the custom House in Casco Bay was almost always a leading community figure, or a well-connected political personage.
Site Page
"Women in Colonial Economies The work of Hallowell, Maine resident Martha Ballard (1735-1812) exemplifies female settlers’ varied and extensive…"
Site Page
"Women in Colonial Economies Copy, deed from James and Rachell Berry to Proprietors, page 1 of 3Maine Historical Society For their part, as…"
Story
Cape Verde and the Doctrines of Discovery
by Lelia DeAndrade
My Cape Verde family's culture and history is tied to the Doctrines of Discovery
Story
Pandemic ruminations and the death of Rose Cleveland
by Tilly Laskey
Correlations between the 1918 and 2020 Pandemics
Lesson Plan
Nation to Nation: Treaties and Legislation between the Wabanaki Nations and the State of Maine
Grade Level: 9-12
Content Area: Social Studies
This lesson plan asks high school students to think critically about and look closely at documentation regarding the Nation-to-Nation relationship between the Wabanaki Tribes/Nations and the State of Maine. This lesson asks students to participate in discussions about morality and legislative actions over time. Students will gain experience examining and responding to primary and secondary sources by taking a close look at documents relating to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 (MICSA) and the issues that preceded and have followed the Act.
Lesson Plan
Longfellow Studies: Longfellow Amongst His Contemporaries - The Ship of State DBQ
Grade Level: 9-12
Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Preparation Required/Preliminary Discussion:
Lesson plans should be done in the context of a course of study on American literature and/or history from the Revolution to the Civil War.
The ship of state is an ancient metaphor in the western world, especially among seafaring people, but this figure of speech assumed a more widespread and literal significance in the English colonies of the New World. From the middle of the 17th century, after all, until revolution broke out in 1775, the dominant system of governance in the colonies was the Navigation Acts. The primary responsibility of colonial governors, according to both Parliament and the Crown, was the enforcement of the laws of trade, and the governors themselves appointed naval officers to ensure that the various provisions and regulations of the Navigation Acts were executed. England, in other words, governed her American colonies as if they were merchant ships.
This metaphorical conception of the colonies as a naval enterprise not only survived the Revolution but also took on a deeper relevance following the construction of the Union. The United States of America had now become the ship of state, launched on July 4th 1776 and dedicated to the radical proposition that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights. This proposition is examined and tested in any number of ways during the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. Novelists and poets, as well as politicians and statesmen, questioned its viability: Whither goes the ship of state? Is there a safe harbor somewhere up ahead or is the vessel doomed to ruin and wreckage? Is she well built and sturdy or is there some essential flaw in her structural frame?
